More on Jaywalking

This is in reply to all those indignant letters (July 18) protesting the Los Angeles Police Department’s crackdown on jaywalkers as a waste of time and manpower better spent on serious crime.

Two weeks ago my 13-year-old daughter was ticketed for jaywalking in Westwood. Naturally, we were a bit ticked-off over having to make a court appearance and paying a fine.

Then, just last week, we were driving together down Rodeo Road in the Wilshire district when a young woman, trying to cross the street against the light, stepped out from behind a bus stand and directly into the path of my car. Suddenly she was just there. I had no time to apply my brakes. Practically the first thing we saw was a body hurled across the hood of my car.

An ambulance rushed her to the hospital, but miraculously she was found to have suffered no serious injury, just a bruised hip. But it could just as easily have been worse.

Unless you’ve been in that kind of jaywalking accident, you can’t imagine the trembling fear for the victim and one’s own sheer terror and anger. Yes, anger over the human carelessness that thrust you into what could have been a terrible tragedy.

I’m all for the LAPD getting tougher on the drug pushers and rapists, but if its crackdown on jaywalkers saves just one life this year--and it might save many--it’s worth it.

ALLEEN MORRIS

Pacific Palisades